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footless

Adjective
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Footless literally means having no feet; figuratively, it can describe something without a base, floor, bottom, or supporting foundation.

Detailed Definition
Footless is a rare poetic word meaning lacking feet or, in this context, lacking a floor or support. The phrase “footless halls of air” imagines the sky as a vast place with no ground beneath it.
Example
Example in poetry:
“My eager craft through footless halls of air” means unsupported by feet or footing, suited to flight; “A footless cloud crossed the empty plain”; “The kite rose footless into blue air”; “The phrase makes the sky seem floorless”
Additional Notes
“Footless” is an unusual poetic adjective in “footless halls of air,” and its meaning is not everyday usage.; Found in the poem, High Flight by John Gillespie Magee Jr.
Also Known As
unanchored free untethered
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